


An Ace in the Hole

by ThefirstRanger



Category: Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon, Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Minor Spoilers, Weed mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThefirstRanger/pseuds/ThefirstRanger
Summary: Nancy realizes she knows next to nothing about Ace; she doesn't even know his last name. He's a mystery and one that Nancy is determined to solve. She finds a lead in the Claw when she overhears Ace talking to a stranger and it's like he's begging her to listen in.
Relationships: Ace & Nancy Drew, Ace/Nancy Drew, George Fan/Ned Nickerson (mentioned), Lisbeth/Bess Marvin (mentioned), Nancy Drew & Bess Marvin, Nancy Drew/Joe Hardy
Comments: 54
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

If you had told Nancy a year ago that she would believe in ghosts, she would have laughed in your face. Ghosts and the supernatural weren’t real. Now, she was rethinking a lot of things and one of them was Ace. Something just wasn't right about him. Oh, sure he was helpful and charming enough, but his story about working for the chief of police was too convenient. It made perfect sense but it didn't fit with the chief's M.O. He hated anyone interfering in his police work; something Nancy knew from personal experience.

Ace was always in the middle of action even when it made no sense. His hacking skills, his ability to always make just the right observations to propel the investigation along, it had always been impressive for the dishwasher, but after everything it was suspicious. And if Nancy Drew thought something was suspicious, she worked until her suspicions were laid to rest. She'd figure the mystery of Ace one of these days. Heck, she realized she didn’t even know his last name. 

Everyone was working the morning shift at the Claw which had been moderately busy so Nancy hadn’t had any chance to subtly prod Ace about, well, literally everything about himself. He was a mystery and Nancy wanted to solve him, perhaps more than any other mystery she had encountered. 

After the lunch rush, Nick had appeared to take George out to lunch as a “reward” for a busy shift and Nancy could have sworn she had heard George giggle on the way out the door. George had never giggled in the entire time Nancy had known her and Nick had looked so happy that Nancy couldn't help but feel happy for the couple even if it hurt a little bit. The restaurant was empty and it was the perfect time to investigate Ace to take her mind off of everything. Unfortunately, Ace was nowhere to be found; he was probably on one of his smoke breaks so Nancy decided to check his locker.

It was a piece of cake for Nancy to find Ace's locker. The Claw really needed to beef up its employee security considering how many times Nancy had broken into one of these lockers, but it worked out to her benefit. Ace had a playing card wedged in the top of the door and it fluttered to the ground when Nancy opened the locker. She picked it up and turned it over; of course it was an ace. Ace had a sense of humor, Nancy would give him that. A small voice in the back of her brain whispered that wasn’t all she’d like to give him, but Nancy banished that train of thought. It was too soon after the breakup to start dating someone else in their friend group. Nick and George were making it work, but there were awkward moments. Dating Ace would just complicate things. 

Anyway, now was not the time to dwell on that. She had a locker to search, not that the locker took long at all to search. The only things in there were a small bag of weed and Ace’s phone which was apparently locked with a phrase passcode. The only people who used phrases as phone passwords were either psychopaths, paranoid people, or people with something to hide. Nancy was betting on the latter of those options. 

From the locker room, she could hear a slight murmur coming from the back room, which was weird because there weren't any deliveries scheduled for today. It was probably just Bess catching Ace up on her latest date with Lisbeth, but Nancy was sure Bess was working the front today instead of the back and a quick glance from the kitchen confirmed it. There wasn’t anyone else working which meant it was Ace in the back talking with someone. It was the perfect opportunity to see what Ace was up to.

Nancy snuck back into the kitchen and ducked behind the soup shelves. She could just see behind the cans and no one from the back room would be able to see her. If Bess wandered in, Nancy would be busted, but she wouldn’t worry about that right now. The shelf shifted slightly and Ace and his friend looked briefly over before going back to their conversation. 

The stranger was maybe a year or two older than Ace, with dark wavy hair and a hard, serious look on his face. The two men were still whispering but Nancy could hear snatches of the conversation which had grown in volume since her hiding. 

“.... you owe me…”

“...I can pay you..”

Nancy felt someone crouch down beside her and saw Bess at her side. Nancy gave a little jump and the shelves shifted even more. Bess reached out a manicured hand to steady it.

“What are we doing?” she whispered. 

“Spying on Ace and whoever he’s talking to.”

This was such a common occurrence in their friendship that Bess didn’t even blink. She merely tilted her head and leaned a little closer to the window. 

“Do you think Ace is in trouble?”

“I don’t know. Listen!”

Ace had finally stopped whispering and was getting quite loud. He sounded defensive and upset. 

“Listen man! I’ll get you the payment; I just need more time!”

Were they listening in on an argument between Ace and his actual drug dealer? Nancy couldn’t tell and with Bess next to her, she couldn’t get a good glance.

Almost as if he could hear Nancy’s thoughts, the stranger looked straight at the kitchen window and it seemed like he could see the waitresses through the wall, almost like he knew they were there. 

“That’s not good enough,” snarled the man and he suddenly lunged at Ace, grabbing him in a headlock. Nancy surged up, pulling Bess with her, and bolted into the backroom. 

“Let him go!”

“We know the police!” cried Bess.

As soon as Nancy and Bess entered the back room, the man released Ace, who actually laughed and the man joined in. 

“I told you someone was listening in.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, you were right,” grumbled Ace good naturedly, grabbing his baseball cap and shoving it back on his head. Nancy looked at the pair in confusion, pushing down her desire to straighten the baseball hat on his head.

“Fake fight smokes ‘em out every time.” The man laughed again in triumph.

Nancy was done with the vague exchange and needed answers. "Ace, who is this?" 

The pair exchanged knowing glances at each other like they knew something that Nancy and Bess didn't. Finally the stranger stepped up and offered his hand along with a charming grin.

"I'm Frank Hardy, Ace's big bro."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect this chapter to turn out the way it did. Oh well!

Nancy’s eyes widened and Bess gasped. They couldn’t believe it. There was no way Ace had a brother. Surely he would have told them by now.

“I didn’t know you had a brother!” Excitement was laced into her words and it was obvious Bess wanted to know everything about this mysterious brother.

Ace grinned again like he could brush away all their concerns with a well-placed smile. “Surprise?”

If Nancy had been anyone else, the charming smile would have worked and if she was being honest, it kind of did. Unfortunately for Ace, Nancy was going to figure out his secrets, adorable smile notwithstanding. What else had he been hiding from her?

“It’s a pleasure to meet you ladies,” tried Frank and he was met with a push from Ace. 

“Ok, you don’t have to do the whole charm thing. Bess and Nancy found us out.”

“You were talking fifty feet away from us in a public place. I don’t think you could call it that secretive.” Nancy crossed her arms, perhaps as a way to brace herself from all the emotions she was feeling.

Frank nodded like it all made sense now. “Oh, so you’re two thirds of the dynamic work trio.” 

“And you’re the brother we never knew about,” shot back Nancy. 

“Touche.”

Ace broke in. “Frank goes to college out of state–”

“Triple majoring in forensics, computer science, and chemistry,” added Frank helpfully. 

“They don’t care about that. I dunno, he’s my older brother. Not much to it, we’re boring.”

Nancy knew that wasn’t true. There were so many layers to Ace and even knowing Frank for five minutes made it clear that the brothers were anything but boring. Who else would have a fake fight to draw out eavesdroppers and then imply that wasn’t the first time they’ve had a fake fight?

“Bess Marvin, I’ve heard so much about you,” Frank kissed Bess’s hand gently and she blushed. 

“And your magic jeans.” He added with a wink and Bess blushed even harder. 

Frank turned to Nancy and his grin got even bigger if that was possible. Beside him, Ace paled. There was an undercurrent of something Nancy couldn’t place on Frank’s face. Was it triumph? Satisfaction?

“And you must be Nancy Drew the detective. My brother has told me all about you,” His tone shifted from teasing into something far more serious. “It’s an honor to meet you in person. You’ve done so much to help Horseshoe Bay.”

Now it was Ace’s turn to turn bright red and Nancy was fairly sure her face matched her hair at this point. Ace had told his possibly estranged, secret brother about her? That was clearly the most important thing Frank had said and Nancy really wanted to grill him for more answers, but another phrase nagged at her. Frank had said meet her in person. Had they met before and she didn’t realize it? Nancy wracked her brain, trying to think of anything that would link Ace and Frank with her.

“Thank you,” she murmured, still trying to place his voice. Frank smiled and it looked like his first real smile of the day. He wasn’t trying to charm anyone or deflect attention away; Frank was smiling because he was happy. 

Bess turned to Ace who tried to give her another goofy grin; it didn’t work. She grinned sweetly back before leaning in. 

“Why. Didn’t. You. Tell. Me?” Each word was accented with a gentle swat to Ace’s shoulder. “You’re my platanchor! We don’t keep secrets from each other!” 

“Oww! I’m sorry Bess, I didn’t think it mattered!” 

She sniffed and turned slightly away. “We’ll talk about this later.” 

Ace shrugged his broad shoulders (not that Nancy was staring at them, not at all) and Frank slapped him on the back. 

“Glad you got that settled away. The Hardy bros are back in business!”

“Hardy?” asked Nancy suspiciously. That name sounded familiar like she had met another Hardy before. 

“Wait, wait, wait, this means your name is Ace Hardy?”

“We using Ace’s last name now?” George strode into the back room closely followed by Nick, just in time to hear Bess. George didn’t seem surprised to hear Ace’s last name, but then again, she had hired him. “Come on, back to work, Hardy, everyone.” 

No one moved from the room and George sighed. Nick wrapped his arms around her in consolation and stared at the assembled group. 

Bess formed the name in her mouth, testing it. 

“Ace Hardy,” she drawled. “It doesn’t quite suit you. I thought maybe something like Smith or Jones; some name out of the 30’s.”

Hearing the name Ace Hardy made something flash in Nancy’s mind. An old case, ages ago, where she had consulted with a Fenton and Franklin Hardy over email. That was where she had heard the last name Hardy. She had thought they seemed much older in the emails, like adults, but if she had been a tween detective, anyone else could have been a tween detective.Could they really be the same Hardys? Franklin and Fenton had helped her solve a particularly tricky haunted house mystery and she had actually valued their input, but they had just disappeared. Now it seemed like Nancy had found them.

“Yeah…” Ace suddenly looked uncomfortable and Frank smiled. “Ace Hardy. Let’s go with that.”

“You might as well tell them,” Frank told his brother. “They’ll find out eventually.”

“No thanks to you.”

Nick interrupted them. “Is no one going to tell me who the guy is?” Frank gave a sharp wave and Nick nodded in return, still confused.

“Come on, Ace," Frank placed extra emphasis on the name. "Tell them your name.” 

“Does your real name happen by any chance to be Fenton?” Ace and Frank both stilled and Ace shut his mouth. Nancy had figured them out.

George reared back her head in disgust, her lips curling. “I thought the name Ace was bad, but Fenton is somehow worse.”

Ace actually winced. It was clear he wasn’t going to say anything so Nancy turned to Frank. 

“Does that make you Franklin?”

Frank stared right back into her eyes, cool as could be. He knew what she was asking about. “He was Franklin, I was Fenton.” Nancy scoffed. Of course. 

Bess, George, and Nick all looked lost. Bess waved her finger between the trio. “I am very confused on what’s going on right now and would like an expla–”

She didn’t get any further as Ace interrupted her demand. 

“My real name is Joe Hardy, not Ace and definitely not Fenton. That’s our dad’s name.” He sounded exasperated with the antics of Bess and George, but his eyes were only on Nancy.

“I thought your dad’s name was Tom?” inquired Nick. 

“Ooh, is Tom his middle name because I would go by Tom if my first name was Fenton.” stated Bess like this was a well established fact. “Actually, Joe Hardy suits you pretty well, I take back what I said before.”

“You knew all along.” Nancy’s tone was hard and cold. “You’ve been hiding the truth from me. You and Frank. Why are you really here Ace? What are you hiding?”

“Nancy, I–”

Halfway through his plea, Ace, or Joe she supposed she should call him now, stopped looking conflicted and resolve settled in his gaze. There was going to be a battle between wills, Ace versus Nancy, and it was going to be awkward. 

Sensing this, Frank clapped his hands together. “Bess, people I realize I don’t know the names of, is there any way I could get a burger?”

Understanding dawned on Bess and George’s face at the same time, but Nancy cut them off. 

"Don't bother." 

With that, Nancy bolted out of the back door, not even hearing Ace's pleas to come back. She was too focused on Ace’s deception. Bess and George looked at Ace in shock, Nick had taken his arms off of George, and Frank had narrowed his eyes. Everyone was waiting for Ace to do something.

Ace stood there for a second, unidentifiable emotions warring on his face, before he too bolted through the back door to chase after Nancy. 

The Claw was silent with everyone processing what had just happened until Frank broke the silence. 

"So how about that burger?"

Bess glanced at George and George shrugged. This day was already weird enough; why not give the stranger a burger?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I imagined Frank and Joe helping Nancy out with a case when they were younger, but they did it anonymously as Franklin (Joe) and Fenton (Frank) Hardy. I couldn't come up with anything else so... just pretend their dad made them take fake names for safety?
> 
> 2\. Nancy's conflicted because she really likes Ace, but we've seen how she reacts when her loved ones lie to her. It'll work out, I promise!


	3. Chapter 3

As Nancy rushed out the door, Ace cursed in his head. This wasn’t how he was supposed to tell Nancy. Of course, he wasn't sure how he would have told Nancy, but it wouldn't have been like this.

He hadn't planned on keeping his name from everyone this long; he swears it, but there wasn't ever a good time to tell everyone that he was Joe Hardy. Between kidnappings and murders and ghosts, it would just add unnecessary stress to his friends. After all, he was only half of the anonymous detective pair. Ace had practically grown up solving cases and going undercover was a specialty of his. Frank was good at it too, but Joe was better at blending in, at sinking into the background. 

Frank was better suited for charming people and wining and dining, for experiencing the world as an agent. It fit him more than staying in Horseshoe Bay and going undercover as a dishwasher for the local police and their dad. 

Joe enjoyed it and it was so easy to sink into the slacker persona. No big cases, nothing to worry about. He could be a normal teen for once. Well, normal until Tiffany Hudson got murdered at The Claw. 

No one ever questioned his story or lack thereof. Why would they? A slacker dishwasher wasn't anyone to pay attention to and no one did. Well, no one did until Nancy showed up. She saw through him like a window and Joe realized he liked it. 

She picked up on his lies like she picked up on everything. The only thing she hadn't figured out surprisingly was his real name. Nancy hadn't realized yet that he was Joe Hardy, the younger half of the Hardy Boys who had helped her solve a case, anonymously of course and from behind the scenes. The wunderkind boy detectives. He really thought the whole library investigation would have cracked it for her. But it hadn’t. Even when Frank had introduced himself, there was no hint of recognition in her eyes. 

Joe kind of hated how charming Frank could be at times because even as confusion flashed in Nancy’s eyes, there was a telltale sparkle in them. A sparkle that Ace wished was for him; something that was not likely to happen now.

Nancy hadn’t gone too far, just to the cluster of pines trees outside the restaurant. He could see she hadn't been crying, but her white knuckles said it all. 

"You lied to me.” Nancy accused him so calmly that it took a second for it to register. There was no emotion in her voice.

"I could never lie to you. I wanted to tell you, to let you in on the secret every single day.”

“And yet you didn’t.”

Ace ran a hand through his hair and Nancy hated that even though she was upset about him, she couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to run her hands through that hair. 

“Nance, I helped you every step of the way. With the mysteries and anything else you needed. Does my secret erase all of that like my actions didn’t matter?” he pleaded.

Joe “Ace” Hardy had been by her side since day one. He had accepted the Dead Lucy theory, he had helped her hack into several files, had gotten in a coma to figure out the truth, and beyond all that, Ace had put his unwavering trust in her. Who else would have been willing to drink potential poison on a hunch? Nancy herself hadn’t even been entirely confident in the hunch, but Ace had been. 

As Ace stared at her, pleas mixing with guilt in his eyes, it only took a second for Nancy to find the truth in her heart. It didn’t matter to her, not after everything she had discovered and not after the trust Ace had put in her. 

"No, it doesn’t.”

The words were a relief to say; a burden lifted from her heart. His shoulders raised up from the slump they had been in. 

“I’m sorry.” 

That simple phrase made her heart sing and Ace continued on.

“I’m sorry for lying about who I was and lying about everything else, but you need to know I never lied about my feelings towards you." 

In the weeks after the break up, Ace had gravitated towards her and she had reciprocated. There was no denying that, but the breakup still hurt the tiniest bit. There was no logical reason they should be together, but she was going to do what her heart told her to. Unfortunately, her heart had to wait.

“Tell me why you’re really here.” She was no longer accusing Ace of anything, but Nancy needed to know the truth. Only after she knew the truth could they proceed.

“I was here because I wanted a break. Frank was off at college, and I dunno, I needed a break. Spy and dig around for the chief a little bit and occasionally solve mysteries with Frank. Honest and then you got involved with Dead Lucy and I couldn't stay away.”

“From the mystery?”

“From you.” The sincerity in his voice and the weight of his words hit Nancy like a load of bricks. He liked her, mysteries and all. Her mouth twitched into a smile that she tried to tap down, but couldn’t.

"I wondered why you were so good at sleuthing." 

"Runs in the family," quipped Ace, giving her a crooked grin. “Frank and I have been solving mysteries for our father practically since middle school.” 

Nancy playfully bumped into him. “Am I going to have competition for town detective?”

“Nancy Drew, I’d gladly be your sidekick any day. You have nothing to worry about.”

And oh how those words made her heart sing.  
~  
Inside the Claw, George, Bess, and Nick were crowded around Frank while he gazed appreciatively at his cheeseburger. He wasn’t going to be able to eat his burger in peace however.

"Why did you reveal Ace's name?" Bess started her interrogation off with the most important question.

Frank laughed. "I was tired of hearing him angst about not telling you guys and I was tired of having him call me in the middle of the night to talk about what Nancy would do if she found out." 

"That's cold." Clearly Bess didn’t have siblings, thought Frank.

"I did it to help him out. The longer he hid it from her, the worse the blowup. Plus, Joe was never going to make a move unless I forced him." 

George nodded in approval; she understood sibling dynamics. Frank had done nothing wrong in her book.

“Alright then, tell me everything embarrassing about Ace.” Bess leaned forward on the counter and Nick stifled a smile. Of course Bess would want to ask that. She was going to get her revenge on her platanchor.

Frank grinned and set aside his cheeseburger. “Oh, we’re going to get along great. So in the first grade, Joe had this stuffed animal, see, and…”   
~  
“Should I still call you Ace?” After everything, that was somehow the big question left she wanted answered. 

He gave Nancy a crooked smile. “You can call me whatever you want.”

She had to laugh at that, it was so goofy but sweet. 

“Ace suits you better,” Nancy said appraisingly as she looked him up and down. Ace gave her a grin that made her knees go weak just a little bit.

“Then Ace it is.” It made him unreasonably happy that she was going to keep calling him Ace. It wasn’t a private nickname between the two, but it felt… intimate somehow when she said it. 

Nancy offered Ace her arm and started to move towards the Claw. “Well, shall we?” 

They made their way back to The Claw where everyone was surely waiting to bombard them with questions. The back room was empty and Ace and Nancy could hear faint laughter coming from the front. 

Ace turned to Nancy. 

“Shall we?” Echoing her words earlier, it was an invitation to fully reveal everything. There was no hesitation in Nancy’s voice as she replied, “Let’s go.”

It was a normal scene: no customers and George, Bess, and Nick huddled around the counter. The only difference was Frank was there. All their heads turned to the pair as they made their way to the counter. 

Nick was the first to greet them. “Everything squared away?”

Before Nancy or Ace could even say a word, Bess beat them to it. “Of course they did. Now let’s let Frank continue on with his fascinating story…”

“I can finish it later, no biggie.” answered Frank. “I’m in Horseshoe Bay for a while.”

All of their friend’s attention was on Frank and not the new couple, which was a bit weird.

“Huh, I thought there’d be more questions.” mused Ace. 

George raised an eyebrow. “We don’t ask questions if the answer’s staring us right in the face.” She nodded at their intertwined hands. Sometime on the short walk back to the restaurant, Ace’s and Nancy’s hands had found each other and it felt so natural that neither of them had noticed. 

Nancy blushed as Ace tangled his fingers up in hers even more. 

“Plus Frank filled us in on pretty much everything,” Bess wrinkled her nose up and smirked. “and I mean everything.”

Ace felt a true flash of fear for the first time today. His friends, who had been annoyed with him, had just spent some quality time with his older brother; Frank could have told them any number of things. 

Frank merely shrugged. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them about the sailboat incident.” 

Nancy turned to Ace as a blush stained his face. “Sailboat incident?”

“Let’s not talk about that.”

Laughter bubbled up within Nancy and it spread to her friends, filling the Claw with peals of laughter and chuckles over how weird this afternoon had been. With Ace holding her hand and laughing beside her, Nancy had never felt so happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic!

**Author's Note:**

> I think it would be really cool if Ace is revealed to be a Hardy Boy and this fic was an exploration of that fan theory! Might continue this.


End file.
